Users have a variety of options to communicate with each other. For example, users may participate in a textual instant messaging (IM) session, a telephone call, or a video session. A textual IM session allows users to send text messages to each other in substantially real time. However, the communication is text-based and thus some sort of interaction between users is lost. A video session enables users to converse with each other in an environment that is almost akin to a face-to-face meeting. However, the complexity of setting up a video session has hindered the adoption of video technology. Also, some users may be leery of always being on display or being continually watched by another user during the video session. The traditional phone call provides a verbal exchange between users. However, there are some situations during the phone call when a user may want to visually see the other person.
In a video session or telephone call, a user is either always on display or has to devote their attention to talking to one user. Accordingly, practically speaking, users just limit themselves to a single video session or single telephone call session. However, many users often participate in multiple IM sessions at one time. They may not send text messages to all users continually but may participate in multiple conversations over a long period of time. By using IM, users lose the interactivity of a video session. Users may set up a video feed on their IM client; however, the problem of always being on display still exists. Additionally, sending video to multiple users simultaneously may use a large amount of bandwidth and be undesirable.